Chapter 1: Bloodstone Sunset
The ground beneath Su Changye crumbled as he fell into the abyss. The air was thick with the stench of ancient decay, and his hands clawed at the jagged rock walls, scraping his skin raw. Below him, a massive stone slab loomed—a monolith etched with twisting, black runes that pulsed like a living heart.
“Ahhh…” He gasped, his voice echoed against the stone. Pain exploded through his left eye as a jagged c***k spiderwebbed across his iris. A cold, ancient voice resonated from the depths of the slab: “Sacrifice me, or be consumed by my power…”
His body froze. The runes on the slab seemed to seep into his bloodstream, and a shadowy figure flickered at the edge of his vision—a silhouette with horns and eyes like molten gold. “Three years,” it whispered. “Either you devour me and become a god… or I devour you and become one.”
Su’s legs buckled. The ground shook again, and the slab above him split open, revealing a blinding light. He was pulled upward, his body slamming against the stone with bone-crushing force. When he opened his eyes, the left was a swirling vortex of black—like a miniature black hole—and the right was a calm, endless white.
“Changye!” An elder’s voice echoed urgently. “Control your powers!”
But control was a stranger to him. His left hand twitched, and without warning, it shot out toward the nearest figure—a young disciple who’d mockingly jeered at him earlier. The disciple’s scream was cut short as his body vaporized into smoke, sucked into the abyss of his palm.
Panic clawed at his chest. What had he done? The elder’s face paled as he backed away. “You must seal it… now!” the old man shouted, tears in his eyes. “Before it consumes you completely!”
Su stumbled backward, his vision blurring. The black vortex in his left eye roared louder, and the white light in his right began to dim. The ground beneath him cracked open once more, and the shadowy figure reappeared, its voice colder than ice. “You have three choices…” it hissed. “Surrender your soul to me… flee forever… or fight.”
He didn’t flee. And he couldn’t surrender. His right hand rose, not with malice, but with a desperate need to stop the madness. White light burst forth, engulfing the shadowy figure. For a moment, time stood still. Then, with a deafening crash, the two forces collided—a storm of black and white that shattered the entire chamber.
When the dust settled, Su lay motionless on the ground. His left eye was still a vortex, but the right glowed faintly—a tiny beacon in the darkness. The elder knelt beside him, trembling. “You… you survived,” he whispered.
But survival felt hollow. His chest burned, as if a fire had been lit inside his ribs. And as he looked down at his hands—black and white, like two separate worlds colliding—he knew he could never be free.
